Method of and means for illuminating interiors



July 14, 1925;

E. C. LEACHMAN ET AL.

METHOD OF AND MEANS FOR ILLUMINATI NG INTERIORS v 2, Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 5, 1923 In In "1, llllml July 14, 1925.

METHOD AND MEANS FOR ILLUMINATING INTERIORS Filed June 5,1923 ZSheets-Sheet 2 Patented July 14, 1925. v

NITED STATES 1,546,89 PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD CLAUDE LEACHMAN', 0F BUCKINGHAMSHIBE, AND RICHARD GILES BRAD- SHAW, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

Application filed June 5, 1923. Serial No. 643,580.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, EDWARD CLAUDE LEACHMAN, residing in Buckinghamshire, England, and RICHARD GILEs BRADSHAW, residing in London, England, both subjects of the King of certain new and useful Improvements in a Method of and Means for Illuminating Interiors, of which the following is a specification.

This invention consists in an improved method and means for illuminating interiors, particularly such interiors as are not provided with windows through which daylight can be admitted. It is however, applicable to other interiors for which windows are provided as will be appreciated from the following description According to the present invention there is provided in the wall, as a means for, illuminating an interior, a false recess or false window, which is represented by a pictorial transparency whereof a part or parts represent structural members of work (for example parts of the frame of a window or parts of the masonry ofthe recess) and another part or parts represent pictorial subject-matter (e. g. a landscape) appearing as though situated behind. said structural membersor work, and illuminating means are provided for illuminating the transparency from the rear.

Thus by suitably figuring and colouring the screen the effect of a stained glass window, for example, can be obtained and the screen ma also have delineated on it markings whic will appear as a masonry surrounding and 'fornung part of the window. The masonry can be depicted to follow any desired style and if such a screen be secured to the surface of a wall or within a recess therein the effect given to the interior is as though the latter were lighted by a stained glass window.

Another apphcation of the invention is "to give an effect to the interior as though it were illuminated from an embrasure within which-a sculptured figure or the like is placed. For this purpose the translucent screen would be coloured around its margin and elsewhere where necessary to represent the masonry of the embrasure and also to represent a sculptured figure or the like. The portion of the screen immediately surrounding the figure would be England, have invented coloured so that when illuminated from the back, the figure stands out boldly and it is found that an effect remarkably true to that of a sculptured figure or the like within an embrasure can be given.

Two examples of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 shows a screen prepared in reparesentation of a stained glass window, an

Figure 2 is a vertical central section showing the method of mounting the screen;

Figure 3 is a screen prepared to represent a bay-window showing an imaginary view beyond the window; and

Figure & is a section on the line H of.

which may be of tracing cloth or other translucent material is mounted in amarginal frame 10. The screen is coloured as at 11, to represent and to, give the efiect of masonry framework of a Gothic window and at other parts 12 to represent and to give the effect of stained glass windows.

The coloured screen as just described [above and indicated by X in Figure 2 serves as a cover for an otherwise open side of a box-like casing13, and the frame 10 fits over the edges of the casing as shown. Behind the colouredscreen X is another screen 14 of ,light-difi'using material such, for example, as translucent fabric, and this is secured within the casing by means 'of an open rectangular frame 15 which fits snugly within the walls of the casing. Lateral projections or fillets 16, secured to the inner surfaces of the walls of the casing serve to limit the inward movement of the frame 15 and the brackets 1 which project from the frame 10 and are fastened to other lugs or brackets extending out from the sides of the casing 13.

One or more lamps 18 serve to illuminate the coloured.- screen X from the rear and the effect, seen from the front of the screen, is that of a stained glass window lighted from an external source. In order to make the appearance more realistic, parts of the screen, such as 11, which have been described as coloured to represent mason arts are held in position by flU may be replaced by material which stands out in relief from the screen and maybe formed of wood, plaster, or other preferred material.

It will be seen, therefore, that portions standing out in relief could have the screen secured to them, preferably with a l1ghtdiffusing screen,.'such as It, behind 1t and such relief-parts may serve as the supporting frame for the screen by which it is secured in the opening of an embrasure, for example with the lamps or other llluminating device disposed within the cavity of the embrasure. t

Figure 3 illustrates a further application of the invention in which the screen 1s three-sided and is set into a recess to represent a bay window. The screen members are colored or marked to represent windowframes with a View showing beyond them.

By reference to Figure 4 it will be seen that the screen again forms the front of a box-like casing 13 and in this example one part ,of the screen, that is the back portion representing three window-frames, is prepared on a strip again represented at X which is longer than that required for a single representation. The strip is wound on rollers 30 and may beshifted along so that when desired the same can be changed for another one prepared for the same strip and representing, say, the same or a d1n erent type of window with a different view beyond, several windows and their assoc ated views being prepared on the same single strip. The lighting may be similanto that previously described in connection with Figures 1 and 2.

The invention may be applied to the illumination of interiors other than those for human habitation; for example, it may be applied to dolls houses. It may also be employed for advertising purposes and it has a use in railway carriages or on railway companies premises, or the like;-

The construction is such that any one fig- I ured screen is readily replaceable by another,

as, for example in the constructions shown in Figures 1-3, the screen is secured in position by readily detachable means, such as the clips indicated at 17.,

It is preferred to employ the light diffusion screen behind the figured screen, and also to illuminate the screen so as to intensify the colour efi'ects thereof, in any preferred manner.

a translucent pictorial representation of a landscape on the screen between the representations of the window frame and appearing as a landscape seen through the windows when illuminated, and illuminating means in back of each screen for illuminating the interior by the light passing through the pictorial representations on the screen, substantially as described.

2. Means for illuminating an interior comprising in combination a translucent figured screen, means to secure it to a wallstructure of the interior, means whereby said screen can be illuminated from behind, a part only of said screen being of such length as to contain a plurality of figured representations and a part having only a single representation, and means whereby any one of the representations, on that part having a plurality thereof, can be brought into position for illumination when desired.

3. Means for illuminating an interior comprising in combination a translucent figured screen, means to secure it 'within a recess in a wall-structure of the interior, means whereby said screen can be illuminated from behind,-the said screen being three-sided to conform with three sides of the recess, and that portion of the screen at the back'of the recess being of such length as to contain a plurality of figured representations, and

means whereby any one of the representations, on that part of the screen which contains a plurality thereof, can be brought into position for illumination when desired. In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification.

EDWARD CLAUDE LEACHMAN. RICHARD GILES BRADSHAW. 

